Wilkes County, North Carolina
Wilkes County is a county in North Carolina. The population of the county is 69,340. Major roads US Route 21 US Route 421 US Route 421 Business North Carolina Highway 16 North Carolina Highway 18 North Carolina Highway 115 North Carolina Highway 268 North Carolina Highway 268 Business Geography Adjacent counties Yadkin County (east) Alleghany County (north) Surry County (northeast) Ashe County (northwest) Alexander County (south) Iredell County (southeast) Caldwell County (southwest) Watauga County (west) Demographics As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of the county is: 88.78% White (61,560) 5.53% Hispanic or Latino (3,834) 4.18% Black or African American (2,898) 1.51% Other (1,048) 19.4% (13,451) of Wilkes County residents live below the poverty line. Theft rate statistics Wilkes County has below average to average rates of Pokemon theft and murder. The county reported 8 Pokemon thefts in 2018, and averages 0.94 murders a year. Pokemon Communities Towns North Wilkesboro - 4,245 Ronda - 417 Wilkesboro - 3,413 CDPs Cricket - 1,855 Fairplains - 2,120 Hays - 1,851 Millers Creek - 2,112 Moravian Falls - 1,901 Mulberry - 2,332 Pleasant Hill - 878 Unincorporated communities Abshers Adley Austin Boomer Call Clingman Darby Doughton Ferguson Halls Mills McGrady Parsonsville Purlear Radical Roaring River Thurmond Traphill Wilbar Climate Fun facts * Wilkes County was once known as the "Moonshine Capital of the World", and was a leading producer of illegal homemade liquor. From the 1920s to the 1950s some young Wilkes County males made their living by delivering moonshine to North Carolina's larger towns and cities. Wilkes County natives also used bootleg liquor as a means for barter far beyond the borders of North Carolina. Many Wilkes County distillers ran white liquor as far as Detroit, New Jersey and South Florida. Since this often involved outrunning local police and federal agents in auto chases, the county became one of the birthplaces of the sport of stock-car racing. * Most of the Stone Mountain State Park is located within the county. * Wilkes County is one of the most overwhelmingly Republican strongholds in North Carolina and the Southern United States. The last Democrat to carry the county was Andrew Jackson in 1832. Since the formation of the Republican Party in 1854, Wilkes County has voted Republican in every election bar three: in 1856 it voted for "Know-Nothing" Millard Fillmore, in 1860 for Constitutional Unionist John Bell, and in 1912 for Progressive Theodore Roosevelt. * Despite its rural character and relatively small population, Wilkes County has been the birthplace of numerous large industries. Lowe's, the second-largest chain of home-improvement stores in the nation (after The Home Depot) was started in Wilkes County in 1946. Until 2003, Lowe's had its corporate headquarters in Wilkes County, but the company has since relocated most of its corporate functions to Mooresville,, a fast-growing suburb of Charlotte. However, Lowe's large office in Wilkesboro still houses many corporate departments, and Lowe's remains the county's second-largest employer A telecommunications firm, Carolina West Wireless, was started in Wilkesboro in 1991 and is also headquartered in the county. * Like many rural areas in North Carolina, Wilkes County has suffered since 1990 from the closing of nearly all of its textile and furniture factories, which formed a major part of its economic base. Most of these factories have moved to low-wage locations in Latin America and Asia, especially China and Vietnam. According to Stateline, the number of Wilkes County residents employed in manufacturing dropped from 8,548 in 2000 to around 4,000 as of 2015, a reduction of over 53%. From 2000 to 2014, the median household income in Wilkes declined by over 30%. However, from 2014 to 2017 the median household income increased by nearly 22%, and in 2017 Wilkes was ranked 47th out of 100 counties for "economic distress" by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. * Daniel Boone lived in Wilkes County for several years and married a Wilkes County native before moving west to Kentucky. Category:North Carolina Counties